Page 52 of A Torn Allegiance
He searched the area for something, anything with which to follow. No other carriages in sight.
A footman came round and hesitated before bowing to Hayes and then stepping onto the back.
The carriage began to move.
Oh, how Hayes wished he could join that footman, but he daren’t. How would it look for his country if their crown prince was seen hiding on the back of the carriage of suspicious men?
Just as the equipage turned the corner and Hayes was about to feel desolate, another came toward him. A hired hack. Hayes waved the driver down. “You, there.”
A semisober man leaned toward him. “Looking for a ride, guvna?”
Hayes eyed the now-empty corner and then jumped into the hack. “Please turn at the corner.”
The driver started the horses off slowly, his body swaying from the drink.
“And if you hurry, I’ll pay you more,” Hayes added impatiently.
The horses picked up with a cluck of the man’s tongue.
They turned the corner just as the other carriage turned another.
Hayes pointed. “I’d very much like to know what those people are about.”
“Follow them?”
“Yes, if you would.”
The hack picked up speed yet again. When they, too, turned the corner, again the carriage was almost out of sight. The driver of the hack was an older man, unwashed but reasonably steady in his seat now, at least. He whipped his horse, and the creature, who looked just as old, bless him, burst forward in a surprising show of speed. They moved through London, down streets Hayes had never been on, until the area looked more run-down, the rows of buildings looking like they might fall over, the stench strong enough to sting his nose uncomfortably. He was about to tell the driver to turn about when the others finally stopped.
“Pull up here, in that alley. I’d like to not be seen.”
“Aye.”
Hayes jumped out and handed him some coin. “Wait, please.”
He grunted, but when he looked closer at the coins in his hand, he smiled with a satisfied nod.
Hayes peered around the corner.
Lamoreaux and Everly stepped inside a nondescript door before Hayes had made his way to them. He waited only a moment before he, too, stepped inside. The corridor was dark. His eyes adjusted, and then he moved quietly toward the sounds of men talking.
“We aren’t finding strong footing here in London, but Everly has Scotland well under way.” Lamoreaux seemed to be the ringleader, his higher-pitched voice sending crawling pinpoints down Hayes’s back.
“And I’ve got Ireland. They’re so dissatisfied with one another right now, and with England, that the promise of religious freedom rings true to them.” A voice Hayes did not recognize responded.
“Is Napoleon a religious man?” Everly scoffed.
Someone snorted. “No, but he knows how to make promises. I don’t think he cares how people pray, so long as he owns them.”
The group murmured, and Hayes stepped closer to hear what was being said.
“And what about the rest of Europe? What’s left?”
Lamoreaux hummed. “The sweep through Europe is almost complete.”
“Not Oldenburg.”
Hayes stiffened.
